If you are a student at the University of Delaware, I'm sure you're aware of the new ordinance that went into effect on Monday, March 11. This ordinance is to deter the students from having "super parties" specifically dages (which is a day-rage=dage). It is not a coincidence that this was passed before St. Patrick's Day weekend, one of the biggest party weekends of the year.
When most students got wind of this they were outraged, I could understand how they are upset that the college culture that they were growing accustomed to might change rapidly. However, from what I heard it seems like a lot of things were taken out of context. One of the things that were taken out of context the most was "a gathering of 4 or more people."
This ended up spreading like wildfire and I have heard things such as "how am I supposed to live in my apartment that has 4, 5, or 6 people?". It is not just the gathering of 4 or more people that is illegal and warrants a fine, it is when three or more violations occur.
These violations include minors consuming alcohol, more than 150 people present without a permit, trespassing on neighboring property, people on the roof, noise, public urination, drug use, littering, and a few others. Councilwoman Jen Wallace stated that this new law is to prevent and target parties that are spiraling out of control, it is not out to get people at normal get-togethers. Wallace continued by stating "You're not at risk here for just having a party in your living room, this is about controlling behavior that I think no one wants to live next to".
I'm not stating that I support this new law, but I do feel like people have to look at this in context and have respect for other families that live near the University of Delaware and are affected by this. There is an online petition where a lot of students are rallying to have this new law overturned, some of the comments in this petition state that "these people chose to live in a college town", "they are taking my rights away, this is unfair", "unconstitutional". First lets address how this new law is supposedly unconstitutional, and what people mean by this is the right to assemble. Correct me if I'm wrong but I don't think that the right to assemble includes public urination, underage drinking, or drug use.
This law is not as bad as people think it's going to be, it is mainly to keep out of control parties in check as well as pleasing the residents of the city of Newark because they have raised concerns with the parties for quite some time now. Also, I think after St. Patty's weekend things will die down and return to normalcy.
